Employees at Microsoft's ZeniMax Online Studios have voted to form a union and begin collective bargaining with the tech giant.

The ZeniMax quality assurance workers began organizing months ago and voted to form a union in December. The union is affiliated with the Communications Workers of America and Microsoft has recognized it.

ZeniMax is a video-game production company based in Rockville, with titles such as Elder Scrolls and Fallout.

James Riffle, associate quality assurance tester for Elder Scrolls Online, said the union hopes to address a number of problems.

"A lot of us are overworked and kind of feel like our passion is being used against us," Riffle explained. "We've either seen firsthand or heard stories about working overtime hours and still having to work another job to afford rent or gas. We've seen unexplained discrepancies in pay before, between people in the same position. I've seen people being forced to do work above their pay grade, without proper compensation."

It will be Microsoft's first union negotiation in the United States. The ZeniMax vote follows successful unionization efforts of tech workers at Activision, Alphabet and Apple via the Communications Workers of America's Campaign to Organize Digital Employees.

The ZeniMax union includes all quality assurance workers at the various ZeniMax studio locations in America, including its subsidiaries. While quality assurance workers spend time playing the video games the company produces, Riffle said the job has its challenges.

"While we do love what we do, people don't know how painstakingly monotonous it can be," Riffle pointed out. "We can spend hours trying to reproduce an issue that players find in a game with little to no information. So we have what people think is a dream job, but in reality, that dream is manipulated to underpay you."

The ZeniMax workers are now the largest group of quality assurance testers to win union representation at any U.S. video game studio.

There is promising news at the national level and in Minnesota in trying to lower workplace injuries and illnesses. A key labor organization is happy with the results but worries about the obstacles some workers face in being compensated.

Minnesota's Department of Labor and Industry's latest survey data show the state's rate for nonfatal workplace injuries decreased last year by almost a full percentage point, to 2.9%, which mirrors similar movement with the national rate.

Brad Lehto, secretary-treasurer of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, said the numbers are encouraging but other findings stand out.

"It's good that injuries are down," Lehto acknowledged. "But are people getting benefits is the question."

For injured workers, Lehto feels the levels of benefit claims denied by insurance companies are too elevated. He noted it is complicated because of all the "third-party experts" hired by employers for such cases. Lehto wants more transparency, given all the hoops people have to jump through to file claims, including gathering documents. He does credit some employers, including bigger chains like Costco, for making a serious effort to protect workers.

Health care settings, including state government hospitals, are among the workplaces with higher numbers of reported injuries. Lehto pointed out it is not surprising.

"They're being asked to take care of too many patients and work too many hours," Lehto observed. "You're going to get hurt at that point."

He added a legislative push last year to address staffing levels for nurses stalled at the end of the session. As for worker's comp denial rates, they began to rise after the start of the pandemic, reaching 24% in 2021, excluding non-COVID cases. The numbers began to fall in subsequent years.

Immigrant New Yorkers want lawmakers to create an unemployment bridge program.

It would support unemployed workers who are ineligible for state unemployment insurance by establishing a $500 million fund, providing monthly compensation equal to what other workers receive.

Beyond undocumented people, freelancers and self-employed workers would also be eligible.

Sol Freire Figueroa, labor campaigns director with New York Communities for Change, said this will take a lot of political will.

"Right now in the current environment, the immigration conversation has been a topic that not everyone is willing to talk about, or take care of," said Figueroa. "There are many things the immigrant community needs, and we need the willingness of leadership to stand up for the immigrant community."

While the program has statewide support from lawmakers, it's still a budding concept.

A bill establishing the program was brought before the state Legislature, but failed to advance out of committee.

Figueroa said the biggest source of opposition centers around its potential funding source - a digital ad tax from companies with annual gross revenue from these services of $100 million or more.

While the tax is being debated, it's expected to raise $1 billion for New York, with the unemployment bridge program costing half that.

The program stems from the pandemic-era Excluded Workers Fund which filled a similar role. Figueroa said given how the economy has changed, this program has been a long time coming.

"Considering we're living in an economy where we have more and more workers accessing jobs like working at Uber, or a delivery worker," said Figueroa. "They should be able to access this type of benefit as they are putting the hours in, they are putting the work in."

Once the bill passes the state Legislature and is signed by the governor, Figueroa estimated it could take a year to get the program started.




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Federal investments are helping the city of Boston develop greater workforce training programs.

The city received $23 million in 2022 to develop pathways into quality child care, health care and energy jobs.

Trinh Nguyen, chief of worker empowerment for the City of Boston, said city officials knew they needed to focus on getting communities of color and women into well-paying careers.

"We also knew that there are very motivated, talented Boston residents who don't have a bachelor's degree that can meet employers' demand up and down the supply chain," Nguyen explained.

Nguyen pointed out about 2,800 Greater Boston residents have enrolled in the workforce training program. Already, more than 1,000 graduates have secured employment with benefits and opportunities for upward mobility.

In Boston, a significant focus has been child care, a sector in which young people are not filling positions quickly enough as more experienced providers retire.

Nguyen noted too often young people simply do not have the information they need to learn about training and licensure opportunities or where a job in child care could ultimately lead.

"You really have to go into the community and really inform about career pathways in child care," Nguyen observed. "We want to make sure that we have child care workers that reflect the diversity of the clientele for child care."

Nguyen added a stable and secure child care workforce is crucial to the region's future economic growth and that city officials are working with more than 100 employers to secure well-paid jobs for training program graduates. The training is made possible through the federal Good Jobs Challenge program, created through the American Rescue Plan.